Ahhh, Pamukkale — a place filled with natural wonder and ancient history. A place that I go back to often in my mind.
We arrived in Pamukkale on January 25th, 2024. Instantly, we were welcomed with stunning blue thermal rivers.
We stayed at the Lycus River Hotel, which was packed with visitors, unlike most other places we had previously stayed at. The best part about this hotel was that it had both indoor and outdoor naturally sourced thermal pools. I bet you can guess what my peers and I did the second we stepped foot in the hotel…
That’s right — we went to class!
And then we spent several hours in the thermal pools.
Archaeological Sites
It was so nice to relax after about three weeks of intense travel and learning.
However, we did not spend all of our time in Pamukkale hanging out in the thermal pools. We also visited nearby archaeological sites such as Laodicea, Aphrodisias, and Hierapolis.
We even had a live performance in one of the ancient theaters… a wrestling match between Sam and Haakon!
One of the most intriguing places we visited in this area was the necropolis: city of the dead. There, we saw a lot of impressive sarcophagi such as this one:
The Hieropolis archaeological site features structures from different eras of history. We could see both Byzantine and Roman style arches at the same time!
Pamukkale Salt Flats
In addition to visiting archaeological sites, we also explored the natural wonder that is Pamukkale. We took our shoes off and walked barefoot across the salt flats. It was magical! I had never seen anything like it before. The salt flats are made up of calcium carbonate, which is what gives them their white color. Fun fact: I show my students the following photo now when they have to determine the percent mass of calcium carbonate in a mixture for lab:
Cleopatra’s Pools
My favorite memory from Pamukkale was swimming among ancient ruins at Cleopatra’s Pools. You’re probably thinking, “No way the ruins are real… they must be fake!”
I thought the same thing, but sure enough, the ruins are real.
The water was pleasantly warm, with clear visibility down to the bottom of the pool. There were shallow ends where you could sit or stand on an ancient pillar, as well as a deep end where you could dive and see the ruins from afar.
Oh, and you could see the incredible ancient theater of Hierapolis from the pools! It was an amazing experience. I remember thinking, “I hope I never forget this moment”.
That’s all for now!
Until next time,
Clara